Turning Point
by Dedicednu
Summary: When a bank robbery goes down, Rock finds himself in a situation that he doesn't want to be in. He has to save the life of his greatest enemy, Stone Cold Steve Austin. PLEASE R/R!!!!


Title: Turning Point  
Author: Rachel Ann  
Rating: PG-13 for language and violent situations  
Archive: Yes! keep my name on it and let me know!  
Disclaimer: If I owned them, I would be living better then I am now. Vinnie Mac owns  
'em.  
Summary: When a bank robbery goes down, Rock finds himself in a situation he doesn't   
want to be in. He has to save the life of his greatest enemy, Stone Cold Steve Austin.   
  
  
  
Rock along with several other people were lying flat on the ground of the floor of  
the bank. They had been like that for what seemed like an eternity but in reality it was just  
mere minutes and the tension in the room could be felt by everyone. Rock heard a woman  
somewhere behind him crying. He looked over at Austin, who was a few yards away. He  
was on his back, his eyes open and staring at the ceiling. He was lying very still and  
breathing really fast. There was a dark red stain spreading over his chest, streaming down  
his sides and creating a pool on the floor beneath him. Rock had an overwhelming urge to  
go help, but this man was his mortal enemy. No one else was willing to help, so why  
should he? Of course everyone else was freaking out and too scared to even move. But  
Rock couldn't let him die. Not like this. He looked over at the gunman. His back was to  
him and he was yelling on the phone to the police stationed outside. Rock turned back  
towards Austin.   
  
"Psst! Austin?" He whispered loudly. Austin, moving only his eyes, looked over at  
Rock. Rock hesitated before sliding over next to him. His eyes skimmed over Austin and  
he saw how badly he was actually hurting.  
  
"Ah, shit. Austin, can you hear me?" He asked softly. Austin closed his eyes and  
slowly nodded his head. "All right. Just sit tight. Guess who's here to save your candy  
ass." Rock said as he started to apply pressure to the wound. Austin yelled in pain which  
caused Rock to slightly jump. He watched as the blood began to seep through his fingers.  
He looked up at the gunman who was watching all the commotion on the floor.   
  
"I think you better call in a doctor." Rock didn't know what caused him to demand  
orders from the crazed man with a gun.  
  
"Hell no. No doctor. You fix him." The gunman barked.  
  
"I can't fix him!" Rock shouted.  
  
The gunman shrugged, grinning slightly. "Then too bad for him."   
  
Rock sighed and returned to the task at hand. He knew he should check for an exit  
wound. He also know it was going to hurt like hell when he turned him over. He wiped  
the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. "All right Austin, I'm going to check  
for an exit wound which means I need to turn you over. It's going to hurt like a son of a  
bitch so just suck it up and don't scream too loud. Got it?" Rock asked, trying not to  
show anxiety although he was feeling it.  
  
Austin closed his eyes and nodded, bracing himself for the pain that was to follow.  
  
"Okay, on three. One....two...three." Rock held Austin by the shoulder and rolled  
him on his side. Steve yelled as the pain became unbearable. He instinctively grabbed  
Rock's hand on his shoulder in an attempt to make his stop. Even though his grip was  
strong, he was too weak to do any real good. Rock ignored him as he ran his free hand all  
over his back and found nothing. Austin's screams turned into agonized groans. "All right,  
relax. I'm done." Rock slowly rolled Steve back on the floor. "All right, there's no exit  
wound which means that the bullet's still in you. So I guess that means you'll just have to  
keep still." Steve nodded and slowly relaxed. He didn't realize that he was still squeezing  
Rock's hand and Rock felt his fingers going numb. Rock pulled his hand free and applied  
the firm pressure back to the bullet wound. Steve again yelled in pain and again grabbed  
Rocks hand. Rock was getting frustrated.  
  
"Ah! Shit, man. Stop!" Austin groaned, speaking for the first time since the  
incident. "Please stop." He started to cough.  
  
Rock listened to the gurgling cough and decided he might as well do as he wishes.  
"Fine. I stopped. No more." He removed his hands and held them up so Austin could see.  
  
Austin looked at him and slowly nodded his thanks. He suddenly started to choke  
on the blood that was welling up in his throat. A small stream of blood began to trickle out  
the corner of his mouth. Rock started to panic. Austin squeezed Rock's hand tighter and  
groaned in pain. That's when the gunman stepped in.  
  
"Would you keep him quiet! Or I'll end his misery right now!" He pointed the gun  
at the two men.  
  
"Okay! All right!" Rock quickly replied. "He's hurt you know? You should call for  
help." Rock was showing no fear at the threat. Austin had yet to release his grip and Rock  
grimaced when he heard a crack. The gunman, with one final glare, ignored him and went  
back to talking on the phone. A few moments later the gunman's voice echoed through  
the hollow bank.  
  
"I got kids in here, damnit! I'll kill them if you don't move your people right  
now!!" The gunman yelled. Anger and frustrating evident in his tone. Rock looked around  
at twenty or so people on the floor. There were indeed kids here. About four of them,  
being hovered over by their fearful parents.  
  
Suddenly Steve went limp as he lost his battle with consciousness, releasing his  
grip on Rock's hand. Rock noticed the relaxation and quickly leaned down to check for  
breathing and pulse. He panicked when he found nothing. Rock froze, not knowing what  
to do. CPR crossed his mind but he was understandably hesitant in performing it on his  
greatest enemy. He knew that if it was learned that he had taken the class and had not  
performed the life saving procedure, he could face some serious trouble. He wiped the  
blood away from Austin's mouth with the tail of his shirt and silently prayed that he'll live  
down what he's about to do. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves before slowly  
tilting Austin's chin back, pinching his nose, and sealing his mouth with this own. He gave  
two long hard breaths, watching to make sure Austin's chest rose and fell. He then moved,  
pressed both hands below Austin's diaphragm and did 15 compression's.   
  
"Don't you dare die on me, Austin! You son-of-a-bitch, breathe! You are not  
leaving this on my conscience!" He continued the steps until he heard Austin cough and  
take a deep breath. The continuous coughing had caused blood to spurt from his mouth  
and the blood flow from the bullet wound to increase. Rock quickly rolled Austin over on  
his side, keeping him from choking on the blood. Austin coughed a few more times before  
breathing heavily. Rock rolled him back on his back and reapplied the pressure. The  
gunman had had enough of the noise and quickly approached the two men, gun pointed on  
Rock, who stood up to face the man.  
  
"Shut...the fuck....up!!!" He screamed. Rock's heart quickened as he eyed the  
weapon. Something didn't look right on it. He looked back up at the gunman's cold eyes.  
Rock swallowed the lump in his throat before speaking.  
  
"This man is hurt. If he dies, you'll be held accountable for murder." Rock tensed  
when he heard the weapon being cocked. He returned his gaze back to the gun. It was  
then he realized what was wrong with it. It was unloaded!!!! Rock felt a great amount of  
relief wash over him. He tried to think of what to do next. He didn't know weather or not  
to play along or expose to the gunman what he had found out about his unloaded weapon.  
He took a few steps closer so the gunman would be the only one hearing him whisper.  
  
"I know your gun is unloaded. Your trapped. You haven't killed anyone, yet. Give  
yourself up before something bad happens."  
  
The gunman tensed, knowing he'd been caught. But then an evil smirk spread over  
his face.  
  
"But I got a bomb, and I ain't lying about that." He whispered softly, partially  
opening his jacket to reveal several wires and explosives strapped to his chest. "I'd just as  
soon die then go to jail."  
  
Rock's eyes went wide and every muscle in his body tensed. A sudden rush of fear  
swept through him as the revelation that they all were about to die hit him. He had no idea  
as of what to do or what to say. Just then there was a low rumble that shook the entire  
building. Everyone turned their attention to the far end of the bank. Suddenly the entire  
wall caved through as a huge tank plowed through it, followed quickly by several armed  
police officers, yelling and shouting. The collapse of the wall had caused parts of the roof  
to fall and several people screamed and tried to scramble out of the way. Rock noticed  
that the police had their weapons aimed and he quickly dropped to the ground and  
instinctively covered his head as the fallen debris collapsed around him. The police fired  
several shots at the gunman that went right over Rock's head. Rock saw the gunman jerk  
many times as the bullets hit him square in the chest, blood spurting from each hit. Rock  
quickly thought of the bomb and wanted to warn to cops, but by then it was too late. One  
of the bullet's had caused a "tink" on the gunman's chest.  
  
BOOM!!!!!   
The bomb exploded.   
  
*****************  
  
The Rock awoke in the ambulance. He couldn't remember anything. There were two  
EMT's hovering over him, checking vitals and all the basics. His entire left side was  
burning and he tried to sit up to see why but found his arms restrained.  
  
"Sir, lay still." He heard one EMT command. Then it hit Rock what had happened  
  
"The bomb..?" He whispered. He figured he should be dead by now.  
  
"It was a small homemade explosive. All he ended up doing was blowing himself up. You  
were the only other one really hurt by it, you got major second degree burns on most of  
your left side. The debris between you and him took most of the blow. It could have been  
worse. Consider yourself lucky." Rock groaned and nodded his head. "I'm going to give  
you something for the pain." Rock felt a small prick on his right arm and then he drifted  
into darkness.  
  
*************  
  
Rock slowly opened the door and approached the bed. He had just finished getting  
his burns treated and bandaged and felt like he needed to pay someone a visit. He sat in  
the nearby chair and winced as the burns on his leg made contact with the chair. Steve was  
still unconscious and had an oxygen mask over his face. Rock cleared his throat before  
speaking.  
  
"Hey, Austin. I know you probably can't hear me and even if you could you  
wouldn't want to listen, but I got something to say." Rock paused, gathering his thoughts.  
"After what you did to me at WrestleMania I thought I could never forgive you. You had  
no reason to do that to me. I mean, I could understand if you had some excuse, but you  
had none. I lost a lot of respect for you that night. I swore revenge and I was determined  
to hurt you like you hurt me. But after today, I couldn't believe that I actually felt some  
concern for you. Fucked up, I know. I know you probably wouldn't feel that way towards  
me if I was in your position. You'd probably laugh your ass off and beg the guy to 'end  
my misery'." Rock paused and looked down at his entwined fingers, and his bandaged left  
hand, now clean of any blood.   
  
"Anyway, I saw you down on the ground and all the pain in your eyes." He looked  
back at Steve. "I....God, man, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Not even your sorry ass.  
That's just me, I guess." He again paused, feeling uncomfortable at the constant beeping  
sounds of the several machines. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that......I guess you  
suffered enough, even though it wasn't by me, and I'm willing to bury the hatchet if you  
are. I mean, if you still want us to beat the shit out of each other, then I'm cool with that  
too." Rock again fell silent before slowly rising to his feet. He practically limped towards  
the door and reached for the handle.  
  
"Rock?" A very horse, tired voice uttered behind him.  
  
Rock quickly turned around to see Steve staring at him. Rock's mouth dropped as  
he slowly approached the bed. "How.......did you hear all of that?"   
  
Austin nodded and slowly removed the oxygen mask from his face. "I think I came  
to at 'you had no reason to do that to me'." He said, his eyelids closing. Rock nodded,  
realizing Steve had heard most of his little speech. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry." Steve  
said softly, opening his eyes to make eye contact. Rock stared at him in silence. Steve  
adverted his attention on his IV line and continued talking. "It was a tough time that no  
body knew about. I didn't really had a choice in the matter. Vince McMahon is one evil  
son-of-a-bitch"   
  
Rock nodded. "That he is."  
  
"I got to stick it out until Helmsly comes back with Linda." Rock gave him a very  
confused look, which Austin noticed. "He can't stand the man either. He's going to come  
back with Linda and the three of us are going to give Mr. McMahon what the sorry  
bastard has coming." Rock nodded, letting the information sink in.  
  
"Okay, well, that's all well and good but still....."   
  
"I know. I'm sorry, man." That's twice Steve said the word Rock never thought  
he'd hear from 'Stone Cold'. "I was pissed and I took it out on you. Hell, think about  
poor J.R. " He paused, coughed slightly and looked Rock over. "Were you.....hurt bad?"  
Rock debated on whether or not to tell the truth.   
  
"Naw. Not bad. I lived. Like always, you couldn't finish the job." Rock grinned,  
his tone hardly threatening. Austin returned the grin before looking away. Rock had lied,  
he had coughed up blood for two days after the brutal chair shots to his back and chest.  
But what good would it had done if he had said that.   
  
"If I'm able to come back, you can get your pay back full force. Any kind of match  
you want." Rock hesitated before shaking his head.  
  
"You obviously heard what I had said. I'm willing to bury the hatchet." That's  
when Steve made eye contact. "But there is one match I have in mind."  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"A good old fashion wrestling match. One on one. No run-ins and no cheating.  
Straight up. What do you say?"  
  
Austin nodded. "Might take me some time, but you got it."   
  
"Great, because it might take me some time too." Rock said, holding up his  
bandaged left arm. Steve nodded and grinned. An uncomfortable silence quickly  
surrounded them. Rock, feeling the urge to escape the placid environment, stood up and  
started to leave.  
  
"Rock, one more thing." Rock stopped and turned.  
  
"Yeah?" Steve paused before slowly extending his hand. Rock grinned slightly   
before taking the offered hand and firmly shaking it.  
  
"Thanks for saving my candy ass." He said.  
  
"No problem. You never know. You might end up saving mine one day."  
  
  
End 


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